Thursday, May 29, 2014

Is it the Bilderberg conference – or conspiracy?

Conspiracy theorists may chuckle when they learn a debate entitled
“Does Privacy Exist?” is to feature at this year’s Bilderberg
conference, the notoriously secretive gathering of the world’s most
powerful bankers, politicians and business people.

There may be a further shaking of heads when they discover one of the
participants at the heavily fortified, five-star Marriott Hotel in
Copenhagen, Denmark, will be Keith Alexander, the former director of the
National Security Agency (NSA), which was embarrassed by the
mass-surveillance revelations leaked by Edward Snowden. In fairness to
the Bilderberg, the organisers of this year’s conference – which starts
on Thursday – have made efforts to be more transparent by publishing a
list of all the prime ministers, chief executives and military chiefs in
attendance, as well as the topics up for discussion.

Chancellor George Osborne and his Labour counterpart, Ed Balls, are
among the hand-picked group of British politicians who will visit
Copenhagen to hob-nob with the global elite behind closed doors.
Other guests from the political sphere include the former “Third Man”
of New Labour, Lord Mandelson, the current International Development
Secretary, Justine Greening, and the veteran American foreign policy
expert, Henry Kissinger.